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Tennessee PoliticsMon, 07 Apr 2014 14:51:50 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6House Republican leader says gun legislation likely next yearhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2012/house-republican-leader-says-gun-legislation-likely-next-year/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2012/house-republican-leader-says-gun-legislation-likely-next-year/#commentsMon, 13 Aug 2012 19:46:39 +0000Chas Siskhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=17839State Rep. Gerald McCormick, the House majority leader, says that he does not think the defeat of Rep. Debra Maggart will pressure Republicans to take up gun legislation next year. But he nonetheless signaled that he expects the issue to be debated.

“I don’t know that it has to do with what happened to Maggart,” he told reporters. “All along last year we said we were going to focus on jobs and the economy, and that’s what we did. … I think we will take up Second Amendment issues this (upcoming) year.”

The National Rifle Association spent about $100,000 on the campaign to beat Maggart in the Aug. 2 primary, holding her responsible for the failure of legislation that would have required businesses to let their employees bring their guns onto workplace parking lots.

“Certainly, I don’t want to use the family member issue on this to discuss the issue, but it doesn’t change my views,” he said. “It proves the criminals are going to carry guns, whether they have a permit or not, and people who aren’t criminals should also be allowed to carry guns.

“That was his workplace — I’ll point that out though — rather than someone else’s workplace,” McCormick added. “He owned the property himself, so there’s a little difference between that and Federal Express.”

The legislature reconvenes in January. McCormick said he expects state Rep. Glen Casada, R-Franklin, to be the frontrunner to succeed Maggart as caucus chair. Casada held the chairmanship 2007 to 2010, giving it up to run for House speaker.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2012/house-republican-leader-says-gun-legislation-likely-next-year/feed/0Nine lawmakers flipped votes on guns-in-barshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2010/nine-lawmakers-flipped-votes-on-guns-in-bars/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2010/nine-lawmakers-flipped-votes-on-guns-in-bars/#commentsMon, 10 May 2010 15:10:47 +0000Chas Siskhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=10475Nine lawmakers flipped their votes on an amendment to the guns-in-bars/restaurants bill after some last-minute lobbying by the National Rifle Association, the CA says in a follow-up to an article that ran last week.

Eight Republicans and one Democrat changed their committee votes from supporting an amendment by Rep. Harry Tindell that sought to separate restaurants from bars to voting against it on the House floor. An NRA lobbyist was given the unusual privilege of speaking to the House Republican Caucus just before the floor vote; she told them a vote for the amendment would be held against them in upcoming elections.

House Speaker Kent Williams and some rank-and-file Republicans have questioned the propriety of granting a lobbyist for one side of the issue special access just before the vote.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2010/nine-lawmakers-flipped-votes-on-guns-in-bars/feed/3NRA spoke to Republican caucus before guns-in-bars votehttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2010/nra-spoke-to-republican-caucus-before-guns-in-bars-vote/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2010/nra-spoke-to-republican-caucus-before-guns-in-bars-vote/#commentsThu, 06 May 2010 19:05:23 +0000Chas Siskhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2010/nra-spoke-to-republican-caucus-before-guns-in-bars-vote/The main lobbyist for the National Rifle Association was given the unusual privilege of addressing the House Republican Caucus before yesterday’s vote on the guns-in-bars bill, the CA reports.

The speech made it clear to members that a vote for an amendment meant to limit guns to restaurants that serve alcohol — but not bars that make most of their money from alcohol sales — would be held against them in upcoming elections.

The amendment failed, but not before state Rep. Joe McCord, a longtime NRA member and Maryville Republican who is not running for reelection, castigated the organization from the House floor.

“I’ve got a strong history of supporting and advocating for the NRA but this line of reasoning is just bordering on lunacy.”

This ruling is a setback for Tennessee’s law-abiding concealed carry permit holders,” said Chris W. Cox, NRA chief lobbyist. “We strongly urge Attorney General Robert Cooper to defend the Tennessee statute and appeal this unwise ruling.” … “Right-to-carry permit holders in Tennessee need to be aware that the chancery court’s regrettable and incorrect decision effectively suspends the law the legislature enacted and that they should not carry in restaurants until this litigation is resolved on appeal,” concluded Cox. “The NRA will continue to fight on behalf of our members, permit holders and victims of crime until this reasonable self-defense measure is restored as Tennessee law.”

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/nra-fires-back-on-guns-in-bars-ruling/feed/3NRA asks you not to take your gun out to dinner tonighthttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/nra-asks-you-not-to-take-your-gun-out-to-dinner-tonight/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/nra-asks-you-not-to-take-your-gun-out-to-dinner-tonight/#commentsThu, 04 Jun 2009 16:57:04 +0000Colby Sledgehttp://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/?p=4292An e-mail from the NRA asks supporters of the guns-in-bars/restaurants-that-serve-alcohol bill that they not start packing tonight, since that would be illegal and all. The law to allow handgun carry permit holders to take their weapons into said businesses will go into effect July 14. From SayUncle:

We’ve heard some chatter with TN bloggers that they want to go out to restaurants tonight and carry. We just want to make sure that no violates the law. There is language in the bill that states the law doesn’t go into effect until 40 days after it is overridden. Could you help us get the word out?